Today, NYC KidsPAC, a political action committee composed of
parent leaders devoted to strengthening our public schools, announced its
endorsements in the Democratic primary due to take place next Tuesday, Sept.
9.KidsPAC endorsed Zephyr Teachout and
Tim Wu for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, over the incumbent Andrew Cuomo
and his running mate, Kathy Hochul.

KidsPAC’s other endorsements in contested races include:
Robert Jackson for State Senate District 31 in Manhattan, John Liu for the 11th
Senate District seat in Queens, Dmytro
Fedkowskyj for Assembly Seat District 30 in Queens, Oliver Koppell for
Senate District 34 Seat in the Bronx, and Jo Anne Simon, campaigning to replace
retiring Joan Millman in the 52nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.

Said Shino Tanikawa, parent leader and President of KidsPAC,
“NYC KidsPAC wholeheartedly endorses Zephyr Teachout for Governor for her
commitment to fight against privatization of our public education. We
need a governor who believes in small class sizes, provides adequate resources
for our most vulnerable students, respects the profession of teaching, opposes education
driven by standardized tests and will fight for a high quality schools for all students throughout the State.
We believe Zephyr is the right candidate who will move us in the right
direction.”

Shino added: “Governor Cuomo, on the other hand, has
massively cut education aid to our schools, opposes fully funding CFE – despite
a court order – and owes NYC more than $2000 per student.He also supports raising the cap on charters,
and has pushed through preferential access for charters to expand in space paid
for by the city, while hundreds of thousands of our public school students sit
in overcrowded schools, in trailers or on waiting lists for their zoned
neighborhood school.”

“Though Robert Jackson and the incumbent Adriano
Espaillat both completed surveys emphasizing their support for public schools,
Jackson has a long history of leadership on education issues.He was the original plaintiff in the CFE
case, walked to Albany for the final deliberations in court, and was a terrific
advocate as Chair of the Education Committee on the NYC Council.Wherever and whenever we have needed him,
Robert Jackson has stood for us and with us, fighting for the rights of our
kids.Now parents must be there for
him,” said Karen Sprowal, a board member of NYC KidsPAC and a long time Harlem
resident.

“John Liu and Tony
Avella have strong education records, but Liu was an exemplary City
Councilmember and Comptroller – always pushing to keep the Department of
Education honest in its reporting.Moreover, we cannot forget how Avella deserted the Democratic Party to
join forces with the GOP, which has consistently opposed full funding for NYC
schools and supports privatization, vouchers and charter expansion,” said Isaac
Carmignani, long-time parent
leader in Queens.

“KidsPAC is endorsing Oliver Koppell for State Senate against
Jeff Klein, as Klein led the defection from the Democratic majority to prop up
the GOP, which has hurt our schools badly.Klein also supported the egregious provisions in this year’s budget,
providing preferential treatment and public space at city expense for charter
schools – despite the fact that the public schools in his district are hugely
overcrowded and badly need expansion,” said Gloria Corsino, a Bronx parent
leader.

Isaac Carmignani explained,
“We enthusiastically support Dmytro Fedkowskyj, running against the incumbent Margaret Markey in
Queens.Dmytro was a strong advocate for
NYC parents and kids when he was the Queens member on the Panel for Educational
Policy.As his candidate survey shows,
he will continue to be a strong advocate as Assemblymember.He opposes test-driven education, is strongly
against raising the cap on charters and supports full funding for our public
schools.”

Finally, NYC KidsPAC is endorsing Jo Anne Simon vs. Pete Sikora in the Assembly.Tesa Wilson, a Brooklyn parent and KidsPAC
board member said, “Though both Simon and Sikora responded with positive
answers to our candidate survey, Simon has been a long-time advocate for the
rights of special needs students, and for full funding and smaller classes in
our public schools.In our survey, she
came out strongly against raising the cap on charters.While Sikora said he was supportive of
keeping the cap this year, he was in favor of re-evaluating the cap in future
years.”

The links to our endorsements, completed candidate surveys and
the NYSAPE Governor’s scorecard can be found on our website at www.nyckidspac.org .